Sevilla moved joint top of La Liga with Barcelona after a superb volley from Gerard Deulofeu saw off Real Sociedad and heaped more misery on under-fire manager Jagoba Arrasate.
The Barcelona loanee, who spent last season at Everton, struck the only goal of the game after 18 minutes but Sevilla were well worth the three points and only their profligacy in front of goal spared Sociedad a drubbing.
The Basque side suffered their second consecutive defeat in four days and have taken just four points so far this season, but things could hardly be different for Sevilla, who notched their fourth consecutive victory.
Unai Emery’s side have a new-found resilience to them this term despite parting with Alberto Moreno and Ivan Rakitic in the summer and began the game in confident mood. Real Sociedad goalkeeper Enaut Zubikarai had to dive across goal to prevent Nico Pareja’s 25-yard drive from bulging the top corner, and the stopper watched in relief a minute later as Grzegorz Krychowiak’s driven effort whistled past his near post.
There was little the goalkeeper could do about Deulofeu’s thunderbolt which opened the scoring, however. Full-back Benoit Tremoulinas served up a looping cross into the six yard box from the left hand side and the Catalan forward caught it perfectly to fire into the roof of the net.
Zubikarai was able to stop Ever Banega’s long range effort and again gasped with relief as Jose Antonio Reyes sent his shot just wide of goal.
Having withstood heavy pressure from the hosts in the first half Sociedad made a positive start to the second period, with Chory Castro hitting the side netting after cutting in from the right wing.
However, it did not take long for Sevilla to come back at the visitors, who once again relied on a great save from Zubikarai to keep the scoreline as it was.
On this occasion the goalkeeper saved a Stephane Mbia header from close range as the Real Sociedad area resembled a pinball machine, the ball thrashing around the ground before it was eventually cleared.
Mbia later sent a free header wide of goal and was then denied again by Zubikarai, who had his hands full as he tried to keep his side in the game.
The goalkeeper delivered his side of the bargain by denying Denis Suarez and Aleix Vidal, but was let down by his teammates outfield, who barely created a chance at the other end.
Barcelona, meanwhile, dropped their first points of the La Liga season as they were held to an uneventful 0-0 draw away to Malaga.
Sevilla, with their win, are level with the Catalans on 13 points at the top of the table whilst Atletico Madrid are now just two points behind the leaders as they too won 1-0 away at Almeria.
Barca stretched their run without conceding a goal to six games, but lacked the spark they have shown so far this season as Lionel Messi was kept in check by the Malaga defence.
Indeed it was the hosts who came closest to scoring as Luis Alberto’s fine free-kick was turned onto the post by Claudio Bravo.
“We weren’t precise in the last few metres of the pitch, but at no point did we suffer,” said Barca manager Luis Enrique.
“It was the most difficult game for us so far, but that was down to what our opponents did right.
“We didn’t play as well as we can and we just have to continue improving and correcting things.”
In a first-half of few chances Nordin Amrabat had the only shot on target as his low effort was easily held by Bravo.
Barca were struggling to create clear-cut openings but twice Messi came close from Jordi Alba crosses as he chested the ball inches wide before just failing to stretch for a tap in a minute before the break.
The visitors were similarly short of ideas in the second period provoking Enrique to replace Pedro and Neymar with youngsters Sandro Ramirez and Munir El Haddadi in search of a breakthrough.
However, it was Malaga who enjoyed their best spell shortly after those changes as Roberto Rosales fired wide when well-placed at the edge of the box before Bravo produced a stunning save to turn Liverpool loanee Alberto’s free-kick onto the post.
Malaga keeper Carlos Kameni then nearly gifted Barca the opener moments later as he spilled Gerard Pique’s header towards goal, but the Cameroonian smothered the ball before it crossed the line.
The hosts got a lucky break seven minutes from time when captain Weligton somehow escaped a red card for pushing Messi in the face, but they held on to claim a well-earned point.
Atletico will host Sevilla on Saturday in a top of the table clash as they moved up to third thanks to a hard-fought 1-0 win away to Almeria.
The champions had to rely on their threat from set-pieces once more as Miranda rose highest to thump home Koke’s corner.
Miranda’s goal was the sixth out of seven Atletico have scored in the league so far that came from a set-piece, but manager Diego Simeone insisted he isn’t worried at his side’s inability to score from open play.
“To get a corner you have to attack. The team is working well to generate this possibility,” said the Argentine, who will return to the touchline on Saturday after completing a five-match ban.
“It doesn’t worry me to win by scoring from set-pieces because it is part of the game.”
Elsewhere, Athletic Bilbao’s disastrous start to the campaign on the domestic front continued as they lost 2-1 at struggling Rayo Vallecano, thanks to two goals from on-loan Atletico striker Leo Baptistao.
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Leap of Faith
Michael J Mazarr
Public Affairs
Dh67
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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